TRS board members rip law ousting Blagojevich appointees

Members of the Teachers Retirement System board are blasting a bill signed into law Friday that will remove members appointed by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich while increasing the number of gubernatorial appointees on the board.

Members of the Teachers Retirement System board are blasting a bill signed into law Friday that will remove members appointed by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich while increasing the number of gubernatorial appointees on the board.

Under the new law, the governor will appoint six board members, creating an even split between appointed and elected members. The state superintendent of education will continue sitting on the board.

Currently, board members elected by teachers, current and retired, hold a majority on the board. Board members point out that Stuart Levine, a former TRS board member who has pleaded guilty to corruption charges and is at the center of the scandal, was a gubernatorial appointee.

“Our problem in the past was with an appointed (member),” said TRS board member Cinda Klickna, an elected member. “It was very puzzling that the legislature would increase the number of appointed (members) rather than the elected (members).”

Board member Jan Cleveland, also an elected member, said board members work well together, but increasing the number of appointed members is a bad idea.

Scott Eshelman, a former board member and a critic of the current board, said changing the number of appointed board members doesn’t address the real issue.

“I don’t think we need more appointees, I think we need better processes,” Eshelman said. “I think this is an indictment, really, of the elected trustees. The elected trustees were, in my view, asleep at the switch and continue to be asleep at the switch.”

Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said the TRS board’s history speaks for itself.

“The governor believes that the people who were on the board, regardless of whether they were appointed or not, did nothing to stop the corrupt practices that are now amply identified by the federal government,” Brown said. “As a result, a change is going to be made.